"(I) couldn't have asked for a better photo opportunity,” Cizek told CBC Radio. "The photo just makes you question, you know, how is this possible? How did it happen? How is the mom taking care of so many ducks?"

He added, "It's hard not to look at her and say OK, you know this is pretty unbelievable. Multiple people are saying, you know, 'Mom of the year.'"

MAMA MERGANSER! I was able to track down the now famous Lake Bemidji Common Merganser that has an adopted brood of over 76 babies! I love the story that these photos tell.

Cizek said he first saw the ducks on June 27. He counted one hen and 56 ducklings. When he returned to the spot weeks later, he saw more than two dozen more ducklings with the leader.

Cizek posted the photo on social media, earning thousands of comments, likes, shares and retweets. He said he snapped more than 50 pictures of the group, Fox News reported.

“I was just praying that one was going to turn out sharp because the waves were so strong it was nearly impossible to even keep them in the frame,” he recalled. “Luckily enough, just one picture turned out.”

Experts told the Times the ducklings don’t all belong to the mother seen in the photos. Female ducks will often “dump” their eggs in nests of other birds to incubate, a move aimed at spreading offspring and improving their survival rate.

Female ducks will leave their ducklings with one female, who is older and more experienced, said David Rave, an area wildlife manager who works at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, to the Times.